Daily Times

As I sit to pen this article, my heart saddens and feels burdened. I ashamedly confess how Jinnah’s dream has been shattered and demolished by those whose forefathers selflessly gave their lives to achieve a separate homeland. I know the Quaid, the pioneer of freedom, would turn in his grave after knowing our condition. My heartfelt apologies to our leader that we in spite of having everything could not make his dreams materialise.

Two months after the inception of a separate homeland, Quaid addressed the nation on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha and stated, “Our new-born state is bleeding from wounds inflicted by our enemies…I am confident that in spite of its magnitude, we shall overcome this grave crisis as we have in our long history surmounted many others and notwithstanding the efforts of our enemies, we shall emerge triumphant and strong from the dark night of suffering and show the world that the State exists not for life but for a good life.” My dear, optimistic leader, I am sorry to share with you the dark night of suffering has emerged into the darkest endless night of suffering. I daresay we have betrayed your confidence and trust in us. Not to speak of overcoming anything, we have become continuous victims of crises, one after the other. My dear leader, you talked about the state existing for a good life and I am embarrassed to acknowledge life is fruitlessly trying to find room in the present chaotic state.

In one of his speeches, the Quaid explains the purpose of education: “Education does not merely mean academic education because its main focus must be on character building of the students.” Yes, Quaid, we have progressed a lot in the department of education as it has become the most flourishing business. The selfless and noble profession of the past is transformed into a commercial business where the more money you spend, the better education you get. Less attention is paid to the character building aspect of education and therefore the hidden curriculum of institutes, referring to the values that were once instilled in students through the culture of school or college, is badly ignored. As a result, it is common among students that they bribe or coerce teachers for personal gains. Protests from students on minor and sometimes major issues cause destruction of private and public properties. Respect of teachers is an obsolete value. We quote Quaid’s speeches with great zeal and reverence but never consider the dissonance between his vision and our deeds.

On September 26, 1947, Jinnah addressed the industrialists: “If Pakistan is to play its proper role in the world to which its size, manpower and resources entitle it, it must develop industrial potential side by side with its agriculture and give its economy an industrial bias.” Our leader did not know how energy crises and other factors would cause the economic downfall of Pakistan. He did not know how our industries would be shifted from Pakistan to more fertile parts of the world. He had absolutely no idea how downsizing of employees would cause poverty, deprivation and insecurity. The silver lining promised and previewed by the leader does not exist after 65 years of independence. Had the Quaid-e-Azam been alive, he would have been shocked to see the worst industrial downfall faced by the country.

After 11 days of freedom, on August 25, 1947, Quaid had a beautiful image of the city of lights — Karachi. He stated, “I visualize a great future for Karachi — it always had immense potentialities…Karachi has the distinction of being the only town of importance where, during these times of communal disturbances, people have kept their heads cool and lived amicably, and I hope we shall continue to do so.” I feel sorry that the city of the Quaid, the city of lights, has converted into a city of violence. Besides crimes of violence, a host of problems is faced by Karachiites. Power failures, lack of water, housing and transport problems, lack of medical facilities, shortage of good schools and colleges, all make the dream city a bad place to live in.

While addressing students at the Dhaka University convocation, the Quaid advised the students, “Learn to judge who are really true and really honest and unselfish servants of the State, who wish to serve the people with heart and soul and support them.” Fatefully, even this lesson has not been learnt. We fail to judge and select the right rulers for the country. After every few years, we open our arms to the same political parties that we were critical of once. We experience the same corrupt leaders every time and vote for them. Why can we not find an “unselfish servant of the State” in a democratic state?

On the first Eid after independence, the Quaid addressed the nation: “I recognise that it is the Muslim minority provinces in this subcontinent who were the pioneers and carried the banner aloft for the achievement of our cherished goal of Pakistan. I shall never forget their support, nor I hope the majority provinces in Pakistan will fail to appreciate that they were the pioneers in the vanguard of our historic and heroic struggle for the achievement of Pakistan, which today is an accomplished fact.” I owe an apology to the Quaid for the fact that we have forgotten the efforts of the minorities in achieving the cherished goal. We have closed our eyes to the contributions of the minorities because we are in the habit of seeing everything through religious colours. My esteemed leader, we boldly deny promotion of the minorities in our country. Recently, we made Hindus leave their soil, considering them as less Pakistani than Muslims. We have become so self-centred, we do not take into account the emotions and passion of the minorities for their country, Pakistan.

Referring to Great Britain Jinnah said, “Today you might say with justice that Roman Catholics and Protestants do not exist; what exists now is that every man is a citizen of Great Britain, an equal citizen of Great Britain and they are all members of the nation. Now, I think that we shall keep that in front of us and you will find that in course of time, Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the state.” How generously our charismatic leader Jinnah has quoted the example of the British nation. Learning lessons apart, we cannot tolerate if someone quotes a good example of others. It is often commonly preached that our values are taken and copied by those who once ruled us and that now we are left with nothing. My reply to such assumptions is always the same. Are values a physical entity that can be stolen and if shared with others you lose them? Aren’t values abstract concepts that should be followed if you find them good? I admit with deep sorrow we could not abide even by this suggestion of the Quaid. We have drawn very clear-cut lines of demarcation between people of different religions. We have made a blasphemy law that we frequently misuse. Not to speak of the common man, we kill leaders like Salmaan Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti, who speak for protecting the rights of minorities as the Quaid did.

If we are truly thankful for the separate state and identity we are bestowed with, we need to thank the Quaid, not with words but practically. That would lead us to share the vision of the Quaid and be proactive like him.

The writer can be reached at dilnawazqamar@fccollege.edu.pk